Nikkhil Advani believes adding 'masala and action' in Vedaa was a ‘mistake'; says, “I made it too entertaining, thinking people would come to watch the film”

Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani recently reviewed his films with rare honesty, including his last theatrical release Vedaa, which followed the story of a young Dalit girl who challenges caste discrimination. The filmmaker said the movie, headlined by John Abraham and Sharvari, succumbed to the pressure of being "too entertaining" to appeal to a wider audience.

At the 7th edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC) hosted by the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA), Advani was in conversation with writer Darab Farooqui on 'Entertainment and Social Reality: How they go hand in hand.' "I made a mistake when I made a film (Vedaa) on a Dalit girl who wants to do boxing, but something happens at her home, as a result of which the upper caste comes after her. I knew no one wanted to watch a Dalit girl's story but I still wanted to make a film on that”.

"My mistake was that I made it too entertaining - putting all that action and masala, thinking people would come to watch the film," Advani said at the panel discussion, where he was joined by Mrs. filmmaker Arati Kadav, Dibakar Banerjee and Prateek Vats. When asked by the moderator if they had a Dalit point of view in his Vedaa team to get the reality right, Advani said it is ‘important to have someone with the same lived experience’.

"A lot of people called me up and told me how they live and what happens with them. But the entertainment aspect of telling a story completely makes it impure," he added.

However, the filmmaker, whose titles include acclaimed dramas like Freedom at Midnight, D-Day, and Mumbai Diaries 26/11 as well as big-scale commercial outings like Kal Ho Naa Ho and Salaam-e-Ishq, said he still doesn't know what makes for "entertainment".  "Is Manmohan Desai entertainment or Salim-Javed? Or entertainment is what we're doing? For me what is most important is being dramatic. Am I creating enough drama? Do the characters have dignity, is there some reason or logic behind their actions?" Advani added.

Speaking of the ISC which concludes on Sunday, renowned screenwriters and creators including Kiran Rao, Shoojit Sarkar, C Prem Kumar, Christo Tomy, Hemanth M Rao, Vivek Athreya, Biswapati Sarkar and Anand Tiwari will be sharing their experiences, techniques and the secrets behind their most successful works, and how they negotiate the changing dynamics of the industry and its ‘New Reality’.

Also Read: Nikkhil Advani reveals ex-R&AW chief was “Shocked” by D-Day’s resemblance to real operation; says he got information from “Dark web”

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